Explainer: Challenges Austria’s far right faces in coalition talks

FILE PHOTO: Far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) leader Herbert Kickl leaves after addressing the media in Vienna, Austria, January 7, 2025. REUTERS/Lisa Leutner/File Photo

UPDATED Jan 10, 2025, 02:41 AM

Thanks for sharing!

VIENNA - Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which won September's parliamentary election with 29% of the vote, is due to start coalition talks with the conservative People's Party (OVP) this week aimed at creating the country's first FPO-led government.

The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO and the OVP overlap on immigration and taxation but clash on Russia and Ukraine. Below are areas that could prove straightforward and more challenging in their discussions.

APPROACH TO IMMIGRATION

The parties take a similarly hard line on immigration, to the point that the FPO has accused the OVP of copying its policies. The OVP, however, led the outgoing coalition government and the FPO says it can go even further.

Both have pledged to deploy more police at the border, replace cash payments for refugees with benefits in kind and deport Afghans and Syrians back to their home countries even though it is not currently considered safe and therefore legal.